Constructing aircraft, boats, and the like from a number of pre-formed molded panels is well known. However, it is also well known that forming panels curved along both the major and minor axes (i.e., compound and complex surfaces) is extremely difficult. Traditionally, forming such panels had been accomplished by "cold molding," which entailed fitting together a plurality of small, flat wooden strips to form the larger compound or complex surface. The necessary close fit between the strips was achieved by hand carving the edges of each strip, a process which was labor intensive and, therefore, extremely expensive. A further problem associated with cold molding involved bi-lateral structures, for example the starboard and port halves of a two-piece hull. Since the two pieces are mirror images of each other, separate mold jigs or frames were necessary, thus further increasing the production costs of a boat constructed of cold-molded panels.
A significant improvement upon cold-molding techniques was the constant camber veneer molding process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,710 to Brown ("the '710 patent"). According to this design, a convex, or male, compound mold is provided, upon which a plurality of geometrically identical strips of building material are temporarily fastened with tacks, nails, staples, or the like, and adhered together. A second layer of strips may then be adhered to the first layer, if desired. When the adhesive has set, the panel is removed from the mold.
Although the molding process disclosed in the '710 patent rectified many of the problems associated with cold-molding, several deficiencies still exist. A first disadvantage involves veneer molding itself. Do to the nature of the molding process, shapes having a tight radius cannot easily be produced even though often desirable. Another disadvantage of the prior art patent is that when each panel is complete, the outer surface is not finished. Extensive fairing is thus required before the surface may be painted, a process which requires large amounts of both time and effort.
Another problem with the panels disclosed in the '710 patent is that in order to form a hull having varying parameters (i.e., fineness in the bow, fullness in the center and aft, etc.), contorting, or "torturing," of the panels is necessary. This torturing leads to several disadvantages. First, the process of torturing the hull panels while attempting to bond them together is difficult and may prove unreliable. For example, the two hulls of a catamaran may not be identical if each hull is not contorted precisely. Moreover, if torturing is necessary, the hull panels cannot be molded from very stiff materials. Thus, extra supporting structure is required for hull stability. In addition, when the panels are to be tortured, modeling of the finished hull is nearly impossible, since torturing the miniature version of the panels to create the model hull will rarely yield the same shape as will torturing the panels to create the full sized boat hull.
What is desired, therefore, is a method for producing molded panels for fabricating boat hulls by which shapes having a tight radius can be produced, by which the panels have finished and fair outer surfaces, by which torturing of the panels is not necessary to fabricate hulls having varying parameters, by which panels can be produced from very stiff materials, and by which accurate models of the finished boat hull can be easily created.